Simbas

The Simbas ("lions") were a quasi-Maoist revolutionary group in the Democratic Republic of the Congo that launched the Simba Rebellion of 1964 during the Congo Crisis. Led by Christophe Gbenye and Gaston Soumialot, the Simbas were led by communist-inspired leaders, but the majority of the fighters were instead drug-infused soldiers who believed that water applied by a medicine man could make them impervious to bullets. From January to November 1964, 6,000 Simba rebels and 3,500 militia, supported by 250 Cuban and Soviet advisers, fought against the Congo-Leopoldville government of Joseph Kasa-Vubu and Moise Tshombe, but Belgium and the United States assisted the government in fighting back against the Simbas. The Simbas took over much of the eastern Congo and took Western hostages, but the Western-backed Congolese government forces would destroy the Simbas by the end of 1964.